May 17, 2024 By Eleanor Bailey 7 min read

Anna Capobres leads the Upper St. Clair girls lacrosse team in scoring this spring with 47 goals and 12 assists. In her career, she has racked up 173 goals and accumulated 214 points.

Manners make up the demeanor of the girls on the Upper St. Clair lacrosse team. They may say “yes, please”, “no thank you” and “may I” just not on the playing field.

“Inside the lines, there is no reason to be polite,” said USC head coach Emily Zobian. “I tell my girls, ‘you be polite before and after the game.

“They embrace the physicality of the game. Power and finesse are part of the beauty of the game. It’s part of being competitive.”

“When it comes to game time, we play hard. We may knock someone down but we’ll give her a hand up. We want to be physical and excel.”

Under Zobian, the Lady Panthers have excelled. In her third season at the helm, USC sported a 12-5 record heading into the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs. The Panthers finished 7-1 in Section I and were runners-up to Mt. Lebanon, to whom they lost, 12-11, in overtime.

A New Jersey native, Zobian played attack on the Duquesne University women’s team while she pursued a pre-med course of studies. After graduation, she took a gap year and discovered her passion was instead working in sales for an insurance brokerage as well as remaining involved in athletics. So she signed on as coach at USC.

“Coaching is such a privilege,” she said. “At USC, the environment is so unique and the culture created there is special. The support from the athletic department and school administration in general is amazing and the students are incredible people.”

Plus, Zobian added, USC was “silly enough” to allow her to hire her best friend.

Former college teammate and San Diego native, Samantha Cirino serves as an assistant coach along with Nicole Elliott and Maya Roman. Elliott, who is also from New Jersey and played at Simmons University at Boston, is the team’s goalkeeping mentor.

As a full-time coach, Elliott has lent her expertise to Megan Cassady. The senior, who will study mechanical engineering at Penn State, surpassed the 200 plateau for career saves. She stood at 210 heading into the playoffs. This season, Cassady has amassed 110 saves.

“Megan is my brainiac kid,” Zobian said of her keeper, who is part of the school’s robotics team that recently advanced to the world competition. “To be a goalkeeper is hard. It’s so technical. You couldn’t pay me enough to have somebody taking shots at me. Megan has done a wonderful job.”

Cassady is one of only four seniors on the roster and they start at each of the four key areas on the field. Katrina Mammarella is on the attack. She has 65 goals and 90 points in her career. She scored 30 goals during the regular season.

“Kat is a cool kid,” Zobian said. “She tore her ACL last year. It was awful. She was heartbroken but she didn’t let that define her. She came back stronger than ever. She doesn’t let her brace slow her down. She’s still one of the fastest kids.”

A team captain, Mammarella will study business at Miami of Ohio in the fall.

A midfielder, Calla Dressler is a two-year captain that has scored 14 goals but leads the team with 62 draw controls.

Dressler is also versatile as she is the libero on the volleyball team, for which she is also a captain. She will study nursing at the University of Tampa.

“Calla is level-headed and dominant on draw controls,” Zobian said. “She is a kid that anyone can lean on during and outside of the game. She wants to win, but she’s also the ultimate teammate.”

Mac Kenzie Rauch, like Dressler, will also study nursing but at the University of Vermont. The senior is the leader of the defensive unit.

“She is strong willed and very outgoing,” Zobian said. “She is the quarterback of our defense. She is the kid if you get burned, she’ll help pick you back up.”

Anna Capobres gives the Panthers their biggest boost. A junior midfielder, she leads the team with 47 goals and 12 assists this spring. She has racked up 173 career goals. She has accumulated 214 career points.

“She’s a power house. A special kid,” said Zobian. “Her work ethic is unmatched. She loves the technical side of the game but she is also a competitor. She’s the hometown hero. Younger kids look at Anna in that capacity. They want to be like her.”

Capobres has made an impact on the program in much the same fashion as Haley Newton did. Capobres was among more than a handful of freshmen when Newton was a senior and Zobian was in her first season as head coach. Newton currently is excelling at USC.

“Haley was fiercely competitive. So mature and had a clear idea of what she wanted to accomplish,” Zobian said. “It was a privilege to work with her. Her drive has transferred down to the younger players, who are now juniors. They have a competitiveness about them and have built up a culture of play here. It’s one of fight, and keep fighting while having fun doing it.”

Under her leadership, Zobian established a program that has enabled the Panthers to compete on a more even footing with the competition. There is a lifting program. Since September at least 25 players have attended the three-day workout sessions. The team also maintains a rigorous conditioning routine that includes continuous running drills that can rack up the mileage in practices.

Additionally, they learn to play the game better by watching collegiate contests. With Pitt competing in the ACC, it has given rise to the “celebrity” of lacrosse. Young girls want to emulate players like Boston College’s Charlotte North.

“She’s the Beyonce of lacrosse,” Zobian noted. “Girls are obsessed with her. They aspire to get to that level. They are seeing some fantastic girls playing right here and staying home to compete in college. That is helping to elevate the game because the sport is still developing in this region. It’s good for the game.”

Beneficial to USC’s game has been the play of its seven younger starters.

Juniors Molly Powell, Katie Sweeney and Mea Musillo dominate the attack.

Powell, who is committed to Akron, has scored 12 times and assisted on 16 goals this spring. She has 104 career points. “She is an assist heavy kid,” Zobian said. “She is so good at feeding the ball into the middle. It’s like threading the needle.”

Sweeney has 17 goals this spring while Musillo has 27 tallies. She has the highest shooting percentage on the team.

“Mea puts the ball away,” Zobian said. “Katie is one of the shiftiest players. She has great hands and can move the ball in a way that’s crazy.”

Juniors Sara Groninger and Ava Coyle along with sophomore Lexi Marn are “their own little family” on defense. Groninger will eventually play for Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va. She is a cross country runner.

“My whole defense is calm, cool and collected,” Zobian said. “They do not rattle. We need that concrete because defense is the foundation of our house.”

Sarah McShane solidifies the midfield. A sophomore, she also is a competitive volleyball player. She’s a libero for the Panthers.

In addition to the 12 starters, several other players have made significant contributions. Key subs for the Panthers have been freshman Sidney Schalk, Riley Powell and Laughlin Fleckenstein.

Other players that have been key to USC’s success this spring have been: Natalie Barefoot, Stella Moss, Ella Malkovich, Lexi Cwiklinski, Isabella Stewart, Gabbie Shanahan, Maddie Webb, Lauren Tanner, Peyton Stanek and Ava Kiester.

The Panthers entered the WPIAL playoffs seeded No. 3 behind Mt. Lebanon and Pine-Richland, last year’s runner-up and champion.

“It’s a tough bracket with a lot of super competitive teams,” Zobian said, “but the goal is to reach the finals and once we get there to give it all we have. Hopefully that is enough to win it. It’s something we’ve never done before but I think this team is hungry, disciplined and mature. They want to compete on the big stage.”